Civil War Facts and Quotes

Updated on July 30, 2014

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The Birth of a Hub

This hub came about when I was doing some research for a book I am writing that takes place during the Civil War time period. I realized that the research I was doing might make a pretty good article along with helping others with their own research. It is so important when writing to obtain factual bits and pieces of the time period you are writing about and weave them into the stories you create.

So, I am going to share some of those bits and pieces of factual information along with a few of the sites that I visited.

I hope this hub is a help to some of those aspiring writers who are searching for information.

Interesting Civil War Facts

During the Civil War surgeons never washed their hands, they assumed all blood was alike.

The first and the last of the Civil War land battle were fought in Virginia on the farms owned by Wilbur McLean.

General Stonewall Jackson was killed during the Battle of Chancellorsville, he was mistakenly shot by one of his own men.

The youngest general in the Civil War was 20 years old, his name was Galusha Pennypacker and he fought for the Union side.

Approximately 130,000 freed slaves became Union soldiers during the Civil Waqr.

President Lincoln's favorite tune was "Dixie".

Wartime convention decreedthat a woman mourn her child's death for one year, a brother's death for six months, and a husband's death for two and a half years.

A widower was expected to mourn for only three months.

General Robert E. Lee traveled with a pet hen that laid one egg under his cot every day.

During the Civil War an enlisted an was paid fifty cents a day for providing his own horse.

After the Battle at Gettysburg the discarded riflesw were gathered up and sent to Washington to be inspected and reissued.

Before, during, for a period of time after the Civil War it was legally and socially acceptable for a man to beat his wife as long as the weapon was no thicker than his thumb.

North Carolina provided the most troops to the Confederacy.

Black soldiers for the Union Army were paid ten dollars a month while white soldiers were paid thirteen dollars.

During the Civil War glasses with colored lenses were used to treat disorders and illnesses. Yellow for syphilis, blue for insanity, and pink for depression.

The most prescribed medication during the Civil War for both the Confederacy and the Union was alcohol.

Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed at Gettysburg.

There were more than 10,000 soldiers serving the Union Army under the age of 18.

The bounty paid for deserters during the Civil War was thirty dollars per soldier.

The average man's salary during this period of time averaged between twelve and fifteen dollars a week.

The song "I wish I was in Dixie's Land was composed in New York, N.Y.

Stonewall Jackson refused to use pepper on his food, he said it gave him pains in his leg.

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Civil War Quotes From the Confederate Point of View

I am with the South in life or in death, in victory or defeat. I never owned a negro and care nothing for them, but these people have been my friends and have stood up to me on all occasions. In addition to this, I believe the North is about to wage a brutal and unholy war on a people who have done them no wrong, in violation of the Constitution and the fundamental principles of the government...We propose no invasion of the North, no attack on them, and only ask to be let alone. ~ Patrick R. Cleburne

A rich man's war and a poor man's fight. ~ Southern opposition slogan in The Civil War by Shelby Foote

So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished. I believe that it will be greatly for the interest of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this that I would have cheerfully lost all that I have lost by the war, and have suffered all that I have suffered to have this object obtained. ~ Robert E. Lee

We'll fight them, sir, 'til hell freezes over, and then, sir, we will fight them on ice. ~ A Confederate soldier at Gettysburg in The Civil War by Shelby Foote

What a cruel thing war is: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world. ~ Robert E. Lee

I tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it, but I could not. The North was mad and blind; it would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came, and now it must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize the musket and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge our right to self government. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence, and that, or extermination. ~ President Jefferson Davis, Confederate States of America

Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself. ~ Abraham Lincoln

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Civil War From the Union Point of View

The hoarse and indistinguishable orders of commanding officers, the screaming and bursting of shells, canister and shrapnel as they tore through the struggling masses of humanity, the death screams of wounded animals, the groans of their human companions, wounded and dying and trampled underfoot by hurrying batteries, riderless horses and the moving lines of battle-a perfect Hell on earth, never, perhaps to be equaled, certainly not to be surpassed, nor ever to be forgotten in a man's lifetime. It has never been effaced from my memory, day or night, for fifty years. ~ Massachusetts Private at Gettysburg

﻿We are not one people. We are two peoples. We are a people for Freedom and a people for Slavery. Between the two, conflict is inevitable. ~ New York Tribune publisher Horace Greley

I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting — its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers ... it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated ... that cry aloud for more blood, more revengeance, more desolation. ~ William Tecumseh Sherman

﻿The whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak violence upon South Carolina. I almost tremble for her fate. ~ William T. Sherman

My plans are perfect, and when I start to carry them out, may God have mercy on Bobby Lee, for I shall have none. ~ Union Major General Joe Hooker

I saw an open field, in our possession on the second day, over which the Confederates had made repeated charges the day before, so covered with dead that it would have been possible to walk across the clearing, in any direction, stepping on dead bodies, without a foot touching the ground. ~ Ulysses S Grant, Memoirs, the battle of Shiloh

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Comments 6 comments

I am a big history buff and this hub was really interesting especially with the slang that was being used during the Civil War. Voted up

KoffeeKlatch Gals 4 years ago from Sunny Florida Author

kat111, I am fascinated by this particular time period. History is also one of my favorite things. Thanks for reading.

dahoglund 4 years ago from Wisconsin Rapids

Wonderful tidbits of information. I wonder how well the colored glasses worked on curing ailments. At least t probably didn't do as much harm as some medicine back then

UnnamedHarald 4 years ago from Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I really enjoyed reading this, Koffee. Some I'd heard before, but some I hadn't. Voted up and interesting. Speaking of interesting, if Soldier's Disease is slang for opium addiction, I wonder how bad addiction was during the war to warrant a slang term?

KoffeeKlatch Gals 4 years ago from Sunny Florida Author

dahoglund, I suspect that the rose cloered glasses only make thing pink.

UnnamedHarald, Opium addiction was terrible during the war. They used it for everything.